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Stock up now for National Ice Cream Day (July 18)
So this Sunday will be National Ice Cream Day, and since the weather this weekend is going to be warm(ish), why not go all out?
If you go to Safeway, you can stock up on all sorts ice cream with a 4-for-$1.99 special: 1.5 quarts of Breyers, a six-pack of Klondike bars, or a big box of Popsicle novelties which, strictly speaking, are not ice cream, but they are icy-cold sweet treats and so should count on July 18. If you're wondering what you'd do with 6 quarts of Breyer's, you can always buy just one 1.5 quart container at Raley's/Nob Hill for $2.99.
This is not to downplay the charms of, say, a pint of Ben & Jerry's, a salted-caramel cone at the Bi-Rite Creamery, or a scoop of cantaloupe at Mitchell's Ice Cream. Or, say, the utility of having a friend with an ice cream machine who can be persuaded to throw a wingding observing this national holiday on Sunday.
Just ... if you can take advantage of ice cream specials, by all means, do so.
| July 15 2010 at 03:13 PM
What's the biggest cash purchase you've ever made?
It's very easy to charge the big stuff to a credit card. There are good reasons for doing it -- this couch will push my frequent-flyer points into "Go to Europe for free" territory! There are not-so-good reasons for doing it -- if I can't see the money flying out of my account, then it's not really happening, is it? Whatever the reason you reach for a card, you have to admit: There's a level of abstraction in your spending that is not there when you're counting out cash.
In a great interview over on Bundle, Choire Sicha says, "I've never had a credit card or a store charge account. I've always operated cash-only. I have a single debit card and a single bank account. And I've never bought anything that I didn't have the cash for."
Living a cash-only life is not always easy; this MSNBC article from last year points out that sometimes, it can be challenging to actually pay for things (such as online airline reservations). Plus, credit cards do offer a measure of fraud protection, while cash does not.
However, living credit-card free is a great at helping you become a more mindful saver and spender. Instead of using your credit cards as a safety cushion in case of emergency, you're forced to sock away an emergency fund. That, in turn, requires you to have a clear-eyed look at what you think you'd need to feel covered in an emergency. And when you want to buy something, you've got to figure out how to save for it and how long it will take. In both cases, you're far more aware of what drives you to spend, or how saving money makes you feel.
Are any of you on the cash-only lifestyle? And if you are, what is the biggest purchase you've made? How did you feel when handing over the bills/writing the check? Giddy? Panicky? All of the above? Share with dollarsandsense@sfgate.com.
| July 09 2010 at 01:26 PM
Say goodbye to plastic bags in California
The California Assembly voted 41 to 27 to ban single-use plastic grocery bags, and the bill is expected to pass the senate and get signed by Gov. Schwartzenegger. Should it pass, you'll have to bring reusable bags to the store or pay at least 5 cents apiece for recycled paper bags when getting your goods bagged.
As a bring-your-own bagger, this doesn't really affect me on a "how to schlepp my stuff" basis, but I am curious as to how places that give you money back when you bring your own bags will respond. How much money can stores make off people who will shrug, "Whatever. It's only a quarter to bag all these groceries?"
We've talked about tote bags in the past. In March, after blogging about Washington, D.C. and Baltimore's tentative plans to charge shoppers for bags, you all had plenty to say on bringing your own bag.
| June 03 2010 at 01:31 PM
What the deal is with water heater rebates
Our water heater is ten years old. It's grossly inefficient, and I want to replace it before it breaks.
In searching through the Flex Your Power website, I found five different rebates in the SF Bay Area for water heaters. Two come from the U.S. Department of Energy and three from PG&E.; For the detail
| May 19 2010 at 02:18 PM
Is this the future of our grocery shopping?
You already know that if you bring your own bags to Trader Joe's, you can enter their weekly free-groceries drawing, and if you bring your own bags to Nob Hill/Raley's, the cashier knocks a nickel off your total for every bag you bring in. These are incentive systems for getting people to bring in their own bags.
Now check out the flip side: Washington, D.C. has a regulation that charges grocery shoppers a nickel per bag if they don't have their own. And Baltimore, MD., is thinking of levying a 25 cent fee per bag.
Apparently, having to pay an extra fee for bags is a great way to get people to bring their own. According to the Baltimore Sun, "food retailers say they're selling roughly 50 percent fewer plastic and paper bags than they used to give away before the fee took effect."
Would getting charged per each grocery bag be enough to make you remember to bring your tote bags to the grocery store? Tell us at dollarsandsense@sfgate.com.
| March 12 2010 at 08:55 AM
What are your limits to reusing household items?
The psychology blog Cognitive Daily ran a survey last week asking "Who's thrifty? Who's REALLY thrifty?," and the survey included questions on how often respondents did things like re-use cardboard boxes, shopping bags or zip-top baggies. In reading the comments, I was surprised at the visceral, negative responses some folks had to the idea of re-using a zip-top bag. It had always seemed like common sense to me.
I am a big fan of quart-sized or gallon-sized zip-top bags for a lot of reasons -- you can use them to guarantee a tidy suitcase (no more exploding shampoo bottles gunking up your clothing), they're an easy way to stash several small objects in one portable conveyance, they're perfect for storing food that doesn't fit neatly into square or rectangular storage containers, they don't take up much storage space, they're good at either keeping liquids in or out. However, I am not a fan of using them just once. It seems wasteful, both from environmental and financial perspectives. After every zip-top bag use, I turn the bag inside-out, wash and dry it, and stash it for re-use. This is why it took me nine years to go through a box of 38 Ziploc gallon-sized bags.
The fantastic site Tipnut.com has a list of 20 things you can use twice before tossing -- and not one of those 20 things is a zip-top bag. But for folks who are concerned about cutting down on their waste stream or taking advantage of the packaging that comes with their consumer goods, the list is worth checking out for ideas.
| September 03 2009 at 01:19 PM
Dollars and Sense is about finding new ways to inject dollars, cents and sensibility into your everyday spending.
By Lisa Schmeiser, Read Bio
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